Hello, (we didn't learn much Cambodian whilst there!)

After the sweltering heat and the laid back atmosphere of Southern Laos we thought Cambodia would be yet another culture shock. Up until recently the border between Laos and Cambodia had been an unofficial one, with Visas available but at a extortionate price. We'd heard many horror stories from other travellers about the corruption taking place at this particular border so it was with some trepidation that we booked a tour to take us all the way to Kratie, which is about 6 hours drive South of the border. Plus we were attempting to cross on a weekend again, overtime charges apply!

It was actually the easiest border crossing we've done, they have recently made it an official border to get a Visa on entry, there was only a dollar or 2 overtime charges and because Alex looked sad (according to the Official) we even managed to jump the queue. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful apart from one river crossing where we had to get out of the minibus, lug our bags down and across an archaic ferry moved by an even older tug boat, in view of a brand new bridge across the river. Weird! We only stayed in Kratie one night and so did not take the day trip to see the famed Irrawaddy freshwater river dolphins, the best review we heard about this particular tour is that apparently they are quite big! We spent the rest of the day trying to work out the monetary system of yet another country.

Cambodia is similar to Laos in that US dollars and the local currency (Riel) are in constant use, however unlike Laos almost everything is dealt with in dollars, even the cash machines give out dollars. This means that a lot of rounding up occurs making everything that little bit more expensive and yet all change is given in Riel.

The bus to Phnom Penh the next day gave us our first chance to examine the local culture (bus journeys are probably the best way to do this, especially if you're the only Westerners present on the bus). Cambodians are incredibly friendly, almost to the point of suspicion, although this may have something to do with our previous more sinister encounters in other places. The bus made several stops where we all had to get off and the locals immediately try in there best English and mime to tell you what is going on. They smile constantly and the people in the tourist industry have better English than us (even the kids, but more on that later). They are interested by absolutely everything, not just foreigners, but every time the bus brakes for instance every head pops up over and around the seat in front to see whats going on. This may be a through back to the repression that they are recovering from. Like Laos, there are children and babies everywhere and mothers are only too happy to let their offspring play with you and let Alex dote over them. Oh andit seems odd and first, but then so practical, that every woman who is pregnant or has just had a child wears pyjamas all the time as their day wear. At least you can spot them! Unfortunately, Cambodia has a real problem with their litter and rubbish is everywhere, and I mean everywhere. All along the roadside at least for 10 meters back (where there aren't houses) there is a layer of plastic and rotting refuse, sometimes mixed in with water that leads to their water supply. In some areas, it's at least piled and then burnt, but almost everywhere the smell is pretty offensive. Its the same for the pavements and the beaches, the Khmer people think it is perfectly normal to just unwrap packaging and leave it wherever they are. It is such a shame as it is a very beautiful country that is being spoilt.

Anyway, back to the story. We arrived in Phnom Penh, and got absolutely mobbed by a crowd of about 30 young tuk-tuk drivers. After finding one to take us to Okay Guesthouse off we set through the rabbit warren of streets to the river, which borders the city to the East. The area by the river and Grand Palace is very nicely looked after and there are a host of ex-pat influenced restaurants and bars along the banks, all a little out of our price range. You dont have to go far before things deteriorat however. We only spent two nights this time in Phnom Penh and during the full day we had there we visited the killing fields. This is a memorial set up around 16 kms outside of the city on the site of one of many mass graves, where the Khmer Rouge did their ethnic cleansing. The actual site is centered around a 5 storey high memorial housing thousands of skulls that were excavated from the site as well as blood stained clothing of the victims. If that wasn't harrowing enough, you can then walk around the rest of the site amongst the open mass graves where it's still possible to see some of the bones of the victims. Probably the eeriest part of the trip was the sounds of childrens voices playing and singing carried on the wind from a nearby school! The other main point of information about the attrocities of the Pol Pot regime is S-21, a former school which was turned into an interrogation centre situated in the city, we decided to pass on that one... To end the day I decided to give blood at a nearby Swedish run hospital. The Cambodian people have a fear about giving blood and there is a huge need for it for children suffering from Dengue fever. The other thing that pushed me towards it was the ever increasing presence of beggars and street children asking for money. As a general rule we do not give to beggars because we come from a first world nation that has the infrastructure that can help these people. Here in Cambodia there is nothing like that, but if you give to one, why not to all? The other factor is that many of the children could be in school but parents keep them on the streets because they get better results than old people. Giving my blood seemed to be a good way to give something that I knew would be going to a good source.

After Phnom Penh we took a trip to Sihanoukville, Cambodias answer to a seaside resort. The atmosphere here was extremely laid back, most days we frequented a bar on the beach with the friendliest waiter ever, sipping super cheap beer and eating very good sea food. There were a lot of travellers who came here and hadn't left for quite a while and they made up quite a lively night life considering how small the town is. One night we went to a random 'hat' party and got rather drunk. The hats didn't last too long, mainly because the only hats we had were wooly hats from Patagonia! So with all the distractions we ended up spending 5 days instead of 2! Again, the only downside was a constant stream of children who could speak amazing English to try and get some money out of you when they should have been in school learning even more English!! The beaches don't quite rival Thailand but we'd recommend them as the crowd isn't that large and it is pretty cheap and chilled compared to Cambodia's cities.

We returned for one night in Phnom Penh to get some supplies, eat the best Khmer food we had in Cambodia, and break up the journey to Siem Reap.

On the 1st April we arrived in Siem Reap, the home of the famous Angkor Wat, the ancient ruins of many a former King going back to the 12th century. We had decided to spend 3 nights here and teamed up with a tuk-tuk driver to take us around the site (it's huge)! The small circuit was about 35 kms from the guesthouse and back again. Because of the heat of midday and having to get around to buy a 2 day ticket, we went late on the first day to see the sunset from the top of Phnom Bakheng which is free after 5pm if you buy a one day ticket for the next day. The view and the temple were pretty spectacular but the haze and mist made the sunset a bit of a non event, also you have to leave just after 5.30pm and the sun isn't quite down then. The next day we got up at 5am to see the sunrise from Angkor Wat, the most famous of the many temples on the site. The place was gigantic and walking around it that early with not many people made it even more spectacular (photos to follow so you can see for yourselves). The local kids there have it all covered and even bring you cups of strong coffee for one dollar, in the dark, whilst you watch the sunrise.

We then spent the rest of the morning going around the various other "big" sights, including (I wont bore you with the names) a temple with over 200 giant faces staring down at you, a huge causeway with the carvings of hundreds of monkeys (i think) holding it up on the sides, the famous temple as seen in Lara Croft which the jungle has over grown and various other temples in various states of repair. This site really is as good as they say it is, you could spend a month exploing it all but without a degree in the history of the place we decided we were a bit templed out by the end of the circuit. Unlike the similar attractions in Indonesia, Angkor Wat has more visitors as the Cambodian government knows how important a resource it is and it seems to provide an endless supply of jobs.

After our trip into the ancient history of Cambodia we started our journey out of the country. The road from Siem Reap to Poi Pet (the border with Thailand) is probably the only dirt road left in the country and is probably the busiest - but oh my god is it the worst road in South East Asia! The reason for this is apparently because an airline is paying to Cambodian government money to delay it's imporvement to encourage people to fly between the two countries. It really is terrible (all the children on the bus being sick, get the picture) so we thought we'd break up the journey by stopping off at a place called Battambang and see a bit more of a Cambodian town. The only differences being that no-one spoke English there and everything was half the price and a bit dirtier, which is kind of nice sometimes, but maybe wasn't worth the extra travelling.

On 6th April we got a share taxi to the border and started our last month in Thailand. Cambodia was a lot safer than we had been led to believe and the main tourist route is extremely well travelled now. We also found it quite difficult to get off this trail, but maybe if we had had more time we would have found ourselves on a motorbike in the jungle of the far North East! We both really enjoyed our time in Cambodia and would recommend it just for the people alone. We found 2 weeks perfect for us but like everywhere, there's always more hidden treasures to be found.

This month probably wont involve much other than seeing as much sun as possible, but after all this hard travelling I think we've deserved it!! We will endeavour to get you one more blog before we fly out of Bangkok on the 4th May and tell you all about how lovely (hopefully) the islands of Thailand are. Hope you enjoyed reading.

love Alex and Tom xxx,

p.s: its my birthday today so any spare money you have.....just ask for my account number and sort code!